The sluice of Tra Su Dam has been opened to ease flooding in An Giang and neighboring localities

Swelling river water levels are threatening more farmland, including 10 hectares of vegetables in the upstream district of Tan Hong in the province.

Water levels in Tan Chau and Chau Doc districts in An Giang Province are 0.6-0.9 meter higher than the average of previous years.

According to the centers for hydro-meteorological forecasting of the upstream provinces of the Mekong River, water levels there will continue rising in the first half of this week.

In the Plain of Reeds and Long Xuyen Quadrangle, the current water level is 0.7-1 meter higher than the flooding season of last year. The sluices of Tha Lan and Tra Su dams in An Giang Province have been opened one month earlier than previous years to ease flooding.

Duong Van Ni at the Department of Environment and Natural Resource Management at Can Tho University said the flooding season usually starts in the delta in August.

Scientists have suggested that farmers in the upstream region should finish their summer-autumn crop before floods come and build dikes to protect their crops.

However, scientists also said flooding also helps clean up and enrich farms after winter-spring and summer-autumn crops. But in reality, many farmers still set up solid dikes to prevent floods from flowing into their fields to grow their third paddy crop and this increases the water speed of flooding and threatens daily lives and agricultural production in the region.    

SGT/VNN